DMW chief Susan ‘Toots’ Ople dies

MANILA, Philippines — Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan “Toots” Ople died Tuesday.

DMW announced her death in a statement, saying: “Secretary Toots peacefully joined our Creator at around 1 PM today, August 22, 2023, surrounded by her family and loved one.”

The statement did not say the cause of her death, but Ople had been battling breast cancer.

On July 25, DMW announced that Ople was “on a much-needed wellness break… to spend time with family and to attend to her own wellness needs.”

This came after the successive death of her brothers – former Hagonoy Mayor Felix “Toti” Ople and Blas Ople Jr. – in July, both due to lung cancer.

Susan Ople’s father was the late Senate President, Foreign Affairs Secretary, and Minister of Labor Blas Fajardo Ople, who is considered the “Father of Overseas Employment” and “Father of the Labor Code,” which was signed into law in 1974. — John Eric Mendoza

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